FOXY LADY, VOLUME ONE

They say to never judge a book by its cover. That's generally good advice; what's on the outside doesn't necessarily speak for what's on the inside. But sometimes you have no other option when you're deciding on one manga title out of a hundred. What are you supposed to think when you pick up a title called Foxy Lady and are confronted with the image of a blue-haired, red-eyed girl with fox ears who's revealing just the sliiiightest hint of her lacy panties?

If you think, “Wow, this manga is full of new and fresh ideas!” you deserve credit for giving it the benefit of the doubt, but you also deserve to be separated from your pocket money. Foxy Lady is as average as a manga gets.

Jin Mikasa is the young heir to his family's shrine. Knowing he's going to inherit the house of the gods when he gets older, he understands that he must maintain pure thoughts, but he just can't help “engaging” himself while reading girly magazines. Jin's life is turned upside-down when a half-human, half-fox demon girl named Kogane tumbles into his shrine from the demon world. Kogane makes very clear her intent to become a full-blooded human...which involves mating with a shrine heir. Wacky hijinx ensue between the oversexed fox girl and the awkward but perverted Jin. Fun times.

Foxy Lady is categorised as a “Fantasy” manga and it's a shame that something that's supposed to suspend reality could be so bland. Jin is a sniveling, brainless pervert who's terrified of women and refuses to overcome his fear. His friend, Sogo, is not much better. Kogane is intent on breeding with Jin, but Sogo takes it upon himself on every page to remind her that, hey, he's available. Kogane hurts him with some random physical gag and the process repeats itself on the next page. It's like being in Hell, if Hell is a flat, airless plane populated by kawaii fox girls (don't rule anything out).

The art is detailed, but it generally falls into the “shojo” category. Pretty enough to look at if you're into the genre, but nothing that will blow your mind.

Foxy Lady isn't terrible; it's just manga at its most typical. The jokes are stale, as are the character designs. With dozens of quality titles out there, there's simply no reason to pick it up. Thinking about it though, creating a mediocre title is worse than creating a bad one: bad books, movies and manga are acknowledged through word of mouth. Mediocre works just fade into obscurity and then fall into the bargain bin, which is the next dimension Foxy Lady is destined for.